[0001] The invention relates to an electromagnetic component on the basis of a sintered
oxidic material having soft-magnetic properties with a synthetic resin as a binder.
[0002] Soft-magnetic products manufactured by means of the known ceramic methods from metal
oxides (and metal salts, respectively) are preferred to metal-based cast soft-magnetic
products because of their high electrical resistance and low losses resulting therefrom,
especially at high frequencies. A great disadvantage of these ceramic products is
the rather poor dimensional stability as a result of the variations in shrinkage which
occur during the sintering step. This usually makes an aftertreatment necessary (grinding
etc.), which is undesired for cost and for technical reasons, in particular in the
case of so-called yoke rings for deflection units which are connected to the neck
of display tubes for television sets. This aftertreatment is the more unattractive
because it sometimes impairs the magnetic properties of the product, and in addition
there is a high reject percentage due to fracture or damage.
[0003] An aftertreatment may be omitted if the magnetic material is introduced into a mould
(for example by injection moulding) as sintered particles mixed with a binder and
the binder is then allowed to cure (at room temperature or at most a few hundreds
of C). Actually, the tolerances on the dimensions are determined by the tolerances
on the mould dimensions.
[0004] A second advantage of this method is that very complicated shapes can also be made.
[0005] This method is already known from the literature, for example, where it relates to
shaping soft-magnetic products from ferrite, for example, coil cores (see Netherlands
Patent Application no. 6608192 laid open to public inspection). However, the permeability
(
/u) of such cores proves to be unacceptably low for most applications.
[0006] As a matter of fact, a soft-magnetic, synthetic plastics material-bonded product,
has the following great disadvantage: since the binder material in the product is
non-ferromagnetic (
/u = 1, so-called air
/u) and it is present among the magnetic particles, all these particles are in fact
separated by air gaps and this results in a dramatic reduction of the effective
/u of the product. This reduction is so large that the intrinsic
/u of the magnetic material only plays a minor role.
[0007] It is the object of the invention to provide an electromagnetic component on the
basis of a sintered oxidic material having soft-magnetic properties with a synthetic
resin as .a binder, which component has a permeability which is high for synthetic
resin-bonded electromagnetic components, preferably in combination with a high electrical
resistance, and to provide a method of manufacturing such a component.
[0008] For that purpose, an electromagnetic component of the kind described in the opening
paragraph is characterized in that it comprises a structure of densely packed pre-shaped
sintered bodies of oxidic material having soft-magnetic properties which are united
by means of a synthetic resin binder system containing a soft-magnetic powder and
fills the cavities between the bodies to form a solid body having an accurately defined
shape and dimensions. (Densely stacked is to be understood to mean herein that each
body has mechanical contact with the greatest number possible of adjacent bodies).
[0009] The advantages which the present invention presents are illustrated as follows:
When an (annular) mould is filled with sintered ferrite balls (o approximately 2 mm),
and when a filling as dense as possible is ensured, for example, by vibration, ideal
is a densest ball stack, and when said ring is then filled with a thermoplastic resin
a/ueff of 13 is measured after cooling in such a ring (in a solid compressed and sintered
ring of this ferrite a/u of approximately 350 has been measured). When, however, the cavities between the
balls are filled with a mixture of iron powder and a thermoplastic resin said/u increases already from 13 to 35.
[0010] Still a better result is obtained when the balls after prefilling, so during the
injection, are fixed by keeping them under a certain pressure. A
/u of 45-50 can thus be easily realized.
[0011] In the above paragraphs the essential features of the method according to the invention
have actually been described already, namely
1. prefilling a mould with sintered soft-magnetic bodies of given shapes (see hereinafter)
to an as dense as possible stacking.
2. keeping these bodies in their original positions during the injection into the
mould of a soft-magnetic material (metal powder or ceramic powder) with a binder (thermoplastic
or thermohardening).
3. the injection pressure may not be so high that the bodies are forced apart and
certainly not so high that they are destroyed by the pressure.
[0012] A method of manufacturing an electromagnetic component on the basis of a sintered
oxidic material having soft-magnetic properties with a synthetic resin as a binder
is therefore chracterized according to the invention by the following steps:
providing a number of pre-shaped and sintered bodies of ferrite;
filling a matrix with the pre-shaped bodies;
keeping the pre-shaped bodies in the mould while excerting sufficient pressure on
them to ensure that they are in mechanical contact with a part of their surfaces;
mixing a liquid binder with a soft-magnetic powder;
introducing the liquid mixture into the cavities between the pre-shaped bodies in
the mould;
curing the binder, in which the binder unites the pre- shaped bodies and the powder
to a solid having the shape and dimensions of the mould;
removing the solid from the mould.
[0013] As regards the shape of the sintered pre-shaped bodies there are preferred shapes
which roughly can be classified in three categories:
a. balls; especially the dense stacking is important.
b. rod-shaped parts such as cylinders, elongate ellipsoids (shape of rice grain),
and polyhedrons (length: cross-section > 2 : 1). Besides the condition of a good filling,
two more conditions must preferably be satisfied in this case, namely: a maximum number
of parts must be arranged in the same direction and the stacking must be in masonry
bond (like the bricks in a wall).
c. lamellar bodies in which cross-section: main face <1/3. For this the same conditions
apply as mentioned in item b.
[0014] It is to be noted that the choice of the shape and dimensions of the particles of
the pre-filling fraction is also determined by the shape and dimensions of the final
product, for example, when a ring is to be made having a ø
out of 40 mm and a ø
in of 30 mm, no rods should be used having (for example) a length of 20 mm and a ø of
2 mm since in that case the empty spaces formed are much too large.
[0015] The mutual contacts between the pre-shaped bodies are of a variety of natures:
I Balls have tangent points.
II Cylinders and ellipsoids have tangents.
III Polyhedrons and lamellae have tangent planes.
[0016] From the point of view of magnetic "short- circuit", category III is to be preferred
but a disadvantage is that the filling of the remaining cavities is less effective.
[0017] When particles are used having a large length: diameter ratio, an anisotropic product
is obtained when said particles are neatly arranged in the same direction in the body
to be formed, a higher
/u
eff being obtained than, for example, with balls, provided of course that the field direction
is the same as the direction of the largest dimension of the bodies. In this manner
a
/u
eff of 110 has been realized starting from a basic material having a
/u = 350. In applications in which this method can be used, the choice of the ferrite
composition starts to play a role because in this case a higher
/u of the starting material also gives a significantly higher
/u of the composite body.
[0018] The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference
to the drawing and a few examples.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a yoke ring for a display tube/deflection unit combination.
Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the yoke ring of Fig. 1 and shows how
the stacking of the sintered rods from which the yoke ring is constructed is conformed
to the direction in which the magnetic flux flows through the yoke ring.
Compositions of the pre-shaped bodies.
[0019] In general it is desirable to use a starting material having a comparatively high
permeability. Since for many applications the magnetic losses must be low at rather
high frequencies (up to 5 Mc) a high electrical resistance (> 5 x 10
4Ω m) is also required. This type of materials is found in particular in the ferrite
systems:
a. MgMnZn-ferrites
b. LiMnZn-ferrites
c. NiZn-ferrites
[0020] The said ferrite systems have roughly the following composition limits (in mol.%):

[0021] It will be obvious that substitutions of other ions as they are known to those skilled
in the art from the literature (see, for example, "Treatise on Materials Science and
Technology", Volume 11, p. 408, table 8; New York 1971) may also be used in this case.
[0022] For applications in which the losses at very high frequencies are less important,
and the value of /u
eff is important, one will rather search in the range of the MnZn ferrites (
/u > 1000). Composition limits (in mol.%):

[0023] Of course, all kind of substitutions are also possible in this case (see, for example,
German Offenle- gungsschrift 2735440).
[0024] In general it should be stated that, of course, other known soft-magnetic ferrites
may also be used. The preparation of the ferrites for the preshaped bodies is performed
by any of the many methods known to those skilled in the art (see, for example, "Treatise
on Materials Science and Technology", Volume 11, p. 411, Figure 13).
[0025] In the last step of the preparation process, namely the sintering step, an extra
advantage of the invention appears. The pre-shaped bodies may be sintered in a constant
cycle process because the size tolerance plays substantially no role.
Composition of the injection mixture.
[0026]
a. ''the organic binder. For this purpose are to be considered two major groups, namely:
1. thermoplastic materials
2. thermohardening materials
Many representatives of the two groups are known (see, for example, Materials Engin.,
Jan. 1980, pp. 4o-45), the former group is to be considered in particular when the
price is an important factor, the second group when the strength of the manufactured
component is important.
b. the soft-magnetic filler.
[0027] This may also be divided into two major groups:
1. Metal powder having as an exponent the various types of powder iron as they are
commercially available. Requirements: Material permeability reasonably high, grain
size distribution within certain limits (these limits are determined by the product
to be manufactured and the binder used), but the average grain size will always be
small (at most a few microns), because otherwise eddy current losses start playing
a role; finally the metal particles must preferably have an electrically insulating
layer on the outside (for example, by phosphation).
2. Soft-magnetic ferrite powders. In this case also the requirement holds that the/u of the powders must be reasonable. Furthermore, an average grain size between approximately
1 and 10/um is desired for these powders for technical processing reasons.
See further example number F.
[0028] The volume ratio in which the magnetic powder and the binder are mixed may vary within
certain limits (2:3 - 3:2), the lower limit being determined by the magnetic characteristics
of the mixture, and the upper limit by the mouldability of the mixture and the mechanical
properties of the final product.
[0029] For highly permeable products, an easy path for the magnetic flux from particle to
particle is essential, in other words air gaps immediately reduce the permeability,
and therefore a prefilling of a mould with coarse particles succeeded by injection
moulding in which said particles are kept under pressure, is the proper course to
achieve acceptable results.
EXAMPLE A
[0030] Balls were formed from a magnesium zinc manganese ferrite powder having a composition
satisfying the formula Mg
0.65Zn
0.35Mn
0.1Fe
1.7SO
3.82 by rolling with a binder solution. Said balls were sintered in air at 13200c for
2 hours. After sintering the balls had a diameter of 0.6 - 1.2 mm.
[0031] The above-mentioned ferrite balls were poured into a ring-shaped mould having the
dimensions ø
o 50 mm, = 34 mm and h = 8 mm and then compacted by means of a locking die at a pressure
of 40 kg/cm
2. The volume filling of the balls was 55%. The remaining 45% by volume were then filled
with a mixture of iron powder and epoxy resin plus hardener. This mixture contained
90% by weight of iron powder.
Example B.
[0032] In this case magnesium zinc manganese ferrite balls were used which had been made
according to the method of example A but with a diameter after sintering of 2 mm to
2.8 mm.
[0033] An injection mould having the same dimensions as that of example A was filled with
these balls. The volume filling was 50%. The remaining 50% by volume was filled with
a mixture of iron powder and polypropylene (weight percentage of iron powder herein
was 90%).
Example C.
[0034] Rods of a manganese zinc ferrous ferrite were prepared by mixing a powder with a
binder and water, extrusion of the mixture succeeded by sintering at 1300 C for 1
hour in N
2 + 5% 0
2 and then, during cooling, reducing the oxygen partial pressure to 0.1% of 0
2 at 1000°C. After firing the rods had the dimension ø 1.65 mm and a length of 9.2
mm.
[0035] The mould of example B was prefilled in such a manner that the longitudinal axes
of the rods were arranged in the tangential direction of the mould wall as well as
possible. The volume filling was 50%. The cavities were then filled with a mixture
of iron powder and polypropylene (92% by weight of iron powder in this mixture).
Example D.
[0036] In this example rods of MgZnMn-ferrite (see example A) having the dimension ø 2 mm
x 5 mm length were prefilled in a mould (see A) in which the axis of the rods was
in the tangential direction as much as possible. 66% by volume of the matrix cavity
was occupied by said rods.
[0037] The remaining cavities were filled with a mixture of iron powder and thermosetting
resin (89% by weight of iron powder in this mixture), in which the prefilled bodies
were pressed under a pressure of 40 kg/cm
2.
Example E.
[0038] Rods of MnZn ferrous ferrite (ø 1 mm x 5 mm length) were prefilled in a mould (see
A) having their axial lengths in the tangential direction of the mould wall, volume
filling 70%. After a mixture of iron powder and thermohardener. (54% by volume of
iron powder and 46% by volume of thermo-setting resin; i.e. 90% by weight of iron
powder).
Example F.
[0039] A mould having the same dimensions as that of example A was prefilled with 56% by
volume of balls of MgZnMn ferrite (see example A) ø 0.4 - 1mm. After pressing at approximately
40 kg/cm
2, the cavities were filled with a mixture of epoxy resin and MgZnMn ferrite powder
having the same composition as the balls, average grain size 1.5 /um), in which 44%
by volume were occupied by ferrite and 56% by volume by the epoxy resin (i.e. 78%
by weight of ferrite).
Example G.
[0040] In this example a mould of the same dimensions as that of example A was prefilled
with MgZnMn ferrite (see A) flakes up to 42% by volume kept under a pressure of 40
kg/cm
2, the remaining cavities were then filled with a mixture of iron powder and epoxy
resin (volume ratio 54 : 46; i.e. 90% by weight of iron powder).
Example H.
[0041] A mould (see previous examples) was prefilled with manganese zinc ferrous ferrite
rods (Ø 4.5 mm x length 6 mm), the volume filling being 51%. After pressing with approximately
40 kg/cm
2, the cavities were filled with a mixture of epoxy resin and MgZn ferrite powder (average
grain size 6/um).
[0042] The volume ratio epoxy resin/MgZn-ferrous ferrite = 37/63, i.e. 88% by weight of
ferrite.
[0043] The properties of the products obtained according to examples A-H are recorded in
the Table below wherein
/u
i is the initial permeability, tg 0//u is the loss factor and is the resistivity.

Application.
[0044] Applications to be considered are inter alia coil cores and transformer cores having
complicated shapes, and yoke rings for display tube/deflection unit combinations for
television sets. An example of a yoke ring according to the invention is shown in
Fig. 1 and is referred to by reference numeral 1. The yoke ring 1 has been obtained
by pressing elongate rods 2,3,4,5, 6 etc. (Fig. 2) of MnZn ferrite in a matrix having
the shape and dimension of the yoke ring 1 and filling the remaining cavities with
a mixture of epoxy resin and MnZn ferrite powder. The rods 2 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. are stacked
in a "masonry bond" with their longitudinal axes substantially in the tangential direction
of the mould wall so as to make the
/u in this direction as large as possible.
1. An electromagnetic component on the basis of a sintered, oxidic material having
soft-magnetic properties with a synthetic resin as a binder, characterized in that
it comprises a structure of densely packed preshaped sintered bodies of oxidic material
having soft-magnetic properties which are united by means of a synthetic resin binder
system which contains a soft-magnetic powder and fills the cavities between the bodies
to form a solid body having an accurately defined shape and dimensions.
2. A component as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the preshaped bodies have
substantially the shape of a sphere.
3. A component as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the preshaped bodies have
substantially the shape of a rod.
4. A component as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the preshaped bodies are
lamellar.
5. A component as claimed in Claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the axes in the direction
of the major dimensions of the preshaped bodies are substantially parallel to the
direction in which magnetic flux flows through the component during operation.
6. A component as claimed in Claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the preshaped bodies
are stacked in masonry bond.
7. A component as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the soft-magnetic powder
belongs to the group comprising ferrite powder and iron powder.
8. A component as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the oxidic ferromagnetic
material belongs to the group comprising MgMnZn ferrite, LiMnZn ferrite, MhZn ferrite
and NiZn ferrite.
9. A component as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that it has the form of a ring
and that the sintered preshaped bodies are in the form of rods and are directed tangentially
with their longitudinal axes.
10. The use of a component as claimed in Claim 9 as an annular core for a deflection
unit to be used on a cathode ray tube.
11. A method of manufacturing an electromagnetic component having an accurately defined
shape and dimensions on the basis of a sintered oxidic material having soft-magnetic
properties with a synthetic resin as a binder, characterized by the following steps:
providing a number of preshaped and sintered bodies of ferrite;
filling a mould with the preshaped bodies;
'keeping the preshaped bodies in the mould while excerting sufficient pressure on
them to ensure that they are in mechanical contact with a part of their surfaces;
mixing a liquid binder with a soft-magnetic powder; introducing the liquid mixture
into the cavities between the preshaped bodies in the mould;
curing the binder, in which
the binder unites the preshaped bodies and the powder to a solid having the shape
and dimensions of the mould; removing the solid from the mould.
12. Yoke ring of soft magnetic material for use in an electron beam deflection unit,
said yoke ring having a substantially frustoconical shape, characterized in that it
comprises a structure of densely packed pre- shaped soft magnetic bodies which are
united into a solid body by means of a synthetic resin binder system which contains
a soft magnetic powder and fills the cavities between the bodies.